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1 International Peer Benchmarking Study on South Africa s ICT Sector Department of Communication June 2009

2 Introduction The Department of Communication Commissioned the BMIT to analyse telecommunications voice, data and broadband services and product prices at international, national, retail, business and residential levels in South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Korea, India and Malaysia to assess its relative performance in respect of Cost, usage, access and quality This booklet contains the PEER BENCHMARKING RESULTS for the International Peer Benchmarking Study on South Africa s ICT Sector.

3 Policy Environment (1) Major events that significantly transformed the regulatory regime for the telecommunications sector in South Africa were: The corporatisation of Telkom in 1991 The licensing of two mobile operators in 1993 The enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 The sale of a 30% shareholding in Telkom to Thintana17 in 1997 The subsequent amendment of the Act in 2001 making provision for the licensing of an SNO and The enactment of the Electronic Communications Act and the ICASA Amendment Act in 2006.

4 Policy Environment (2) Other significant events included: The issuing of a third mobile licence in 2001 The merging of the separate broadcasting and telecommunications regulatory authorities to form ICASA in 2001 The issuing of a Multimedia Services Licence and Carrier of Carriers License to Sentech Limited in 2002 The public listing of Telkom SA in 2003 The licensing of the Second Network Operator in 2004 The coming into effect in 2005 of a ministerial determination expanding commercial opportunities available to several types of market participants, notably VANS providers permitted to offer voice telephony services The declaration of submarine cable landing stations as essential facilities, and The decision to expedite the local loop unbundling process for completion by 2011.

6 Purchasing power parity (PPP) Takes into account differences in the relative prices of goods and services Measured in current international dollars which are calculated to have same purchasing power as a dollar spent on GNI in the U.S. economy Big Mac example from The Economist magazine (July 24, 2008): Price of Big Mac in USA: US$3.57 Price of Big Mac in South Africa: US$2.24 Difference between South Africa and USA: -37% Adjusted PPP South Africa exchange rate to US dollar: 7.56 * = 4.75

7 Basic indicators The benchmark country with the largest population is India with a population over five times bigger than the next most populated nation, Brazil. South Africa s population is in the middle of the benchmark countries, similar to Korea and larger than Chile and Malaysia. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is in current United States dollars and in purchasing power parity (PPP) Source: World Bank (Population, urban population and surface area). IMF (GDP).

10 Mar-08 Fixed telephone penetration Fixed telephone line subscribers per 100 people 60 Growth in fixed lines has been stagnant in most of countries 50 Korea 40 Only Malaysia & South Africa with less fixed lines at March 2008 than December Chile Brazil Malaysia 10 South Africa 0 India

16 Source: Operator s published tariffs. International long distance Despite the lowest level of facilities-based international telephone call competition, South Africa has the cheapest tariffs This is partly due to extensive tariff rebalancing but is still surprising There is not more of a competitive threat from VoIP in South Africa since it is legal in all the other countries also (to various degrees, either full VoIP or PC-phone) $0.6 $0.5 $0.4 $0.3 $0.2 $0.1 $0.0 $0.12 Price of one minute call to USA, August 2008 US$ per minute PPP per minute $0.19 South Africa $0.23 $0.17 $0.17 $0.47 $0.50 $0.38 $0.36 $0.26 $0.27 $0.29 Chile India Malaysia Brazil Korea Price reflects calls placed from fixed lines of incumbent operators. Peak and off-peak have been averaged.

17 Public payphone Price of calls from payphones important for those without telephone or with mobiles looking for cheaper call prices 3 minute call from public payphone, average peak/off-peak, August 2008, PPP Chile South Africa $0.27 $0.48 Brazil India Korea Malaysia $0.25 $0.13 $0.10 $0.06 $0.00 $0.20 $0.40 $0.60

18 Fixed line Quality of Service (QoS) The only fixed QoS indicator available for all countries is the number of faults On average, one of out of every two fixed lines have a fault in South Africa each year compared to one in 100 in Korea but almost 9 out of 10 in India Korea (03) Brazil Malaysia South Africa Faults per 100 lines per year, Chile (06) 54 India

19 Fixed telephone usage Local usage low in South Africa 400 compared to benchmark countries Long distance usage relatively high Minutes of use per subscriber per month, Local National long distance International long distance Brazil Chile South Africa

20 Fixed telephony - Summary Long distance international and domestic relatively cheap in South Africa compared to other benchmark countries However other fixed charges are relatively high in South Africa and it has rebalanced more sharply than other countries Fixed penetration is lower today in South Africa than in 2000

21 Mobile market Herfindahl-Hirschman Index December ,318 3,868 3,687 3,438 Number of facilities-based mobile operators Market share Others Operator 3 Operator 2 Operator 1 2,265 1, South Africa has the most concentrated mobile market Most of the benchmark countries, like South Africa, have 3 nationwide operators Brazil and India have a larger number of mobile groups although not all operate nationwide South Africa Korea Chile Malaysia Brazil India The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) is a measure of market concentration calculated by squaring the market share of each firm and then summing the resulting numbers. The closer the HHI is to zero, the less concentrated the industry.

23 Mobile penetration December 2007 Although South Africa has the highest mobile penetration among the study countries, this should be treated with caution: South Africa has the highest penetration of pre-paid subscribers with lenient recharge windows and likely multiple subscriptions In terms of household penetration, South Africa has a lower rate than other countries for which data is available Therefore, except for India, likely that other benchmark countries are equivalent in terms of mobile penetration Pre-paid penetration Post-paid penetration Homes with mobile phone (%) Brazil Chile India KoreaMalaysiaSouth Africa

27 International call from mobile While South Africa has cheapest international calls from fixed line, the situation is reversed with mobile Price of one minute call to USA from mobile phone, August 2008, PPP South Africa $0.64 Chile $0.61 Malaysia $0.55 Brazil $0.43 India $0.41 $0.00 $0.50 $1.00 Note: None of the sampled operators has a different off-peak rate.

28 MoU/Subscriber/Month Minutes of Use (MoU) Mobile usage declines as revenue per minute (ARPU/MoU) goes up South African mobile operators have highest revenue per minute of benchmark countries South Africans talk less on their mobiles than any of the other peer countries India Korea Malaysia 150 Chile Brazil South Africa 0 $0.00 $0.20 $0.40 $0.60 Revenue per minute (US$)

32 Mobile communications - Summary Mobile penetration has grown impressively in South Africa. It has risen from the fourth ranked country among the benchmark nations in 2000 to first in March South Africa top ranked despite relatively high tariffs However usage in South Africa is low Mobile broadband tariffs for high volumes (>2GB) expensive in South Africa due to lack of uncapped plans which are available in the other benchmark countries

33 Internet market Only Malaysia has less competitive broadband market than South Africa In Brazil, Chile, India and Korea there is intra-modal competition among DSL providers and inter-modal competition with cable modem, wireless and 3G providers

36 Internet tariffs Other countries have variety of plans and different speeds compared to South Africa All except South Africa offer unlimited plans Benchmark around South Africa speeds & caps Includes ISP portion (only relevant for Brazil and South Africa)

39 Malaysia India Korea Chile Brazil South Africa Wi-Fi hotspot All telephone operators have Wi- Fi plans. Some offer prepaid cards or monthly subscriptions Ideal for those who do not have Internet access at home Proxy for public access $0.14 $0.12 $0.10 $0.08 Price per minute Wi-Fi hotspot, US$, August $ $ $0.02 $

40 Internet summary South African tariffs consistently high Unlike other countries, no uncapped plans in South Africa Level of South African access relatively low and slower growth than other countries

46 International leased lines South Africa has the highest price for an international 2 Mbps leased line to the USA It is more than twice as much as the next most expensive country Price of 2 Mbps international leased line to USA, half-circuit, PPP, 2008 South Africa India 7,000 15,009 Brazil 6,939 Malaysia 5,275 Korea 4,041 Chile 2,654 $0 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000

47 Brazil Chile India Korea Malaysia South Africa International bandwidth South Africa lags other countries in international Internet bandwidth. The relative shortage of bandwidth in South Africa partly explains higher broadband and leased line prices International Internet bandwidth, Gbps, 2007 Gbps 147 Bits per person Note: Figures for Brazil and Chile refer to Embratel and Entel only. Figure for South Africa refers to IS, Verizon and Telkom.

48 Wholesale summary South African fixed and mobile termination rates high International leased lines expensive Very low international bandwidth compared to benchmark countries

49 Conclusions South Africa more often than not aligns with high cost countries (Brazil & Chile) in tariff comparisons South Africa expensive for fixed local access but inexpensive for fixed domestic and international long distance South Africa and Malaysia only two countries with less fixed lines today than in 2000 South Africa has most concentrated mobile market South Africa has relatively high mobile penetration Mobile tariffs expensive in South Africa South Africa has lowest mobile usage

50 Conclusions (II) South Africa has low Internet penetration and market has grown slowly compared to other benchmark countries Lack of uncapped broadband plans in South Africa compared to other benchmark countries Mobile and DSL broadband expensive at high usage (>3GB) Wholesale fixed and mobile termination expensive in South Africa South Africa compares favorably for domestic leased lines International private leased lines (2Mbps) expensive in South Africa Dearth of international bandwidth in South Africa

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